


78 Hours to Save a Life

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir
Genre: Adrien's Dad isn't just emotionally abusive, Angst, Chat Noir Needs A Hug, Child Abuse, Comfort fic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ladybug comforts Chat, Ladybug gives out hugs, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, civilians are friendly, this concept sort of follows the twelve days of christmas ngl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-01 04:06:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17859962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Adrien Agreste doesn't know who he can trust in his personal life, but when he dons the mask of Chat Noir, he knows he can tell his Lady anything. Plagg encourages him to tell the truth about his abusive father, which causes Ladybug to spend all of her time trying to find a solution to a problem Lucky Charm can't magically fix.





	1. 1: Twelve Hours at Notre Dame

“That was pretty lucky, don’t you think?” Ladybug laughed, watching the white butterfly flutter away.

“Sure thing M’Lady, no Cataclysm, no Lucky Charm. I think it worked out purr-fectly,” he replied, holding out his fist to tap to his partner. She smiled and raised hers in kind.

“Pound it.”

Ladybug was holding her yo-yo in hand, lips parting to say something as she swung away, but Chat wasn’t going to let that happen; he loosely grabbed her wrist and took a shaky breath. Immediately, her eyebrows knit with worry.

“Can we… _talk_?”

“Right now, Kitty?”

“I need help.”

Ladybug nodded, mentally sending Chat an of course, anytime. The two swung toward Notre Dame, and away from the eyes of those helping the freshly de-evilized civilian. Their movements were rhythmic, and helped distract Chat from the growing feeling that he needed to keep his secrets. His Lady didn’t need anymore weight laying on her shoulders. His head felt like it was churning as they flew across Paris in tandem, Ladybug throwing him worried glances all along the way.

“That was quite the trip,” Chat puffed, winded. Ladybug seemed a little out of breath as well, but less willing to forget the urgency Chat had conveyed. She took a seat and patted the area beside her, letting out little huffs.

“What’s going on, Chat?”

“There’s not really a way to ease into this, Ladybug. I don’t know how to-”

“How to what?”

“Talk… about it.”

“About what, Chaton? Is something happening to you?”

“My kwami, he said I have to tell someone.”

Ladybug waited quietly for his response, allowing him time to think. Chat’s body language was beginning to droop, he was folding in on himself. His knees were drawn up to his chest, and his neck had nearly disappeared between his shoulders. Ladybug laid a hand on his gently. She watched her own body language for a moment, making sure it would assure him she was trustworthy, safe. He leaned toward her slightly, his gaze fixed on the horizon.

“My dad.”

“Oh, Chat…”

“He’s been angry, Ladybug. He won’t lay a finger where it’s visible but-”

Chat’s sobs cut him off, and Ladybug was pulling him into a tight hug. Her heart was bursting out of her chest with empathy and fear for her partner. She held him in her arms and rocked with the movement the anguish was causing.

“I can’t go home,” Chat wailed.

“You don’t have to go home. You don’t have to.” Ladybug didn’t say what she was thinking. She didn’t tell him _I’ll sit here with you forever if I have to_. She didn’t say _our identities are less important than your safety_. She didn’t have to say these things because Chat didn’t need them yet. Right now, what he needed was affection.

They stayed together until the small hours of the morning. It had been nearly ten hours on a cold rooftop, but Ladybug could bear anything for the kitten in front of her. She had only left his side once, to retrieve blankets a kind civilian below had offered. The silence was soft, yet tangible. It was the silence of two teenagers who knew that it was difficult to escape things; that people were cruel and hurtful and that kids didn’t have any rights in this world. Had they been any older Ladybug would have bought him a house in Canada or Australia and run away with him. But they were high school students, only in their first year.

“I-” Chat started, “I have school in a little bit.”

“I can’t come with you,” Ladybug said, loosening her embrace.

“What do I do, Ladybug? I can’t keep doing this, pretending everything is fine.”

“There are people in your personal life you can trust, Chat. Your kwami was right, this is a serious issue that needs to be told to an adult.”

“I can’t- Ladybug I’m scared.”

“Tell a friend. Just one friend that knows you in your personal life. Ask them to go to the principal or the police with you. Chat, nobody deserves abuse.”

_Abuse_ , spiraled in Chat’s head-in Adrien’s head. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, his father couldn’t be doing anything that serious, could he? Chat knew plenty of parents that hit their kids, right? But, thinking through it all, not one adult could come to mind. His hand tightened around his Lady’s in fear. She pulled him into a hug again, letting more time pass.

Ladybug’s stomach broke the moment, reminding Chat of the time that had passed in the world that wasn’t the safe clutches of a friend. He was hungry too.

“If you can’t, I’ll come with you. Meet me at the Louvre tomorrow at three if you need me.” Ladybug made sure that Chat left first, then slid home and detransformed, finding some very angry parents blocking the stairs to her room. It was going to be difficult to find an excuse for something this major.


	2. 2: Eleven Hours at the Louvre

“Marinette!” Alya shouted. She was gripping an oversized cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other.

“G’morning, Alya,” Marinette replied, raising an eyebrow at the cup. “What’s up with that?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir spent twelve hours on the roof of Notre Dame, last night,” she reported brightly, “and guess who was there for seven of them!”

“That’s not healthy, Alya.”

“Neither is this coffee.” 

Marinette chuckled at her friend and shook her head. They started walking to class, Alya engrossed in her phone for a few minutes before restarting a conversation.

“Also, your parents were going crazy last night! Where did you disappear to, Marinette? I only got some of the later calls, and my mom was worried sick about you. Everyone you know was this close to sending out a search party.”

“Yikes, Alya, I’ve already gotten this lecture.”

“Then tell me what you were doing.”

“I went to the Louvre and fell asleep on one of the exhibit benches. I slept there for forever until a security guard found me and… helped me to the bus stop! Yeah!”

“Suspicious, Marinette. I bet you were hopelessly watching Ladybug and Chat Noir on the roof of Notre Dame and wishing it was you and Adrien.”

“Alya!”

“It’s not my fault you haven’t asked him out yet.”

Marinette sputtered for a moment before shaking her head. For once, she was thinking about something she held as more important than Adrien. The time spent on the roof with Chat was still weighing heavy on her heart. The class periods whizzed by, with Marinette paying the bare amount of attention in each of them. Her mind couldn’t help but wander to whether or not he was able to tell his friend or not. Nobody in the world was anticipating the end of school more than she was.

“-ette. Girl, wake up!” Alya said, waving a hand around wildly.

“Sorry, I zoned out a little.”

“More like you took a nap! I was just asking if you wanted to hang out after school.”

“I’d love to Alya, but I can’t, it’s really important that I go to the Louvre today.”

“I can come with, I know how much time you’ll spend there from experience. Make sure we don’t have to make a search party plan this time, if you know what I mean.”

“Very funny. But I need to go alone, I’m meeting someone.”

“A boy?”

“No.”

“Adrien?”

“Doesn’t he count as a boy?”

“You’re no fun. Who are you meeting?”

“An old friend, they’re suuuper shy but maybe you can meet them a different time.”

“Alright, girl, your lo-”

The ringing of the bell cut Alya off, and Marinette was gone faster than the last macaron at her father’s bakery.

Ladybug perched herself atop the Louvre, keenly watching for Chat to arrive. Half of her hoped he wouldn’t, because it would mean he had found help. The other half of her hoped he would, so that she could make sure he got the protection he needed. Her eyes fluttered. Tikki had taken most of the hit that spending twelve hours in the suit had caused, but exhaustion still sat heavily on Ladybug. Magic was not a complete science; Ladybug would argue that it wasn’t science at all. To pass the time, Ladybug waved to civilians down below, even posing for a few pictures. She was probably proudest of the one where it looked like she had fallen off of the Louvre. Comedy, unlike many things, was a welcome friend in times of tragedy.

“How long are you going to be up there?” someone shouted from below. Ladybug traded between her sore feet again.

“Eleven hours.” The words had come with a tone of confidence, but five hours in, Ladybug was beginning to get stiff, and standing on the point of a pyramid was far past making her feet sting. She hummed songs to herself and practiced her less vital yo-yo skills.  _ Waiting _ , she thought to herself,  _ is not as fun when you’re on your own _ . 

Six hours.

Ladybug was seriously considering retrieving her backpack from where she’d hidden it, but there was too much personal information within. She held up her resolve.

Seven.

Someone below had kindly offered up a bottle of water and Ladybug didn’t think she’d been more grateful for anything in her whole life. She probably said thank you so many times the person would be afraid of her.

Eight hours.

Ladybug closed her eyes, hanging off of the edge of the Louvre and squinting into the darkness that once was all of Paris. Something thudded against the panes of glass behind her, sending a chill up her spine. She let out a loud breath of relief and opened her eyes. A smile tugged its way onto her exhausted lips and she held her arms out for a hug.

And then she saw his face. Terror was sticking out in every facet, in every slump and line. Ladybug dropped the smile and held her arms out openly, not wanting to initiate contact before he was ready. Chat was shaking, hair more frazzled than ever.

“Ladybug I-” he whimpered, “I couldn’t do it.”

“Chat,” she said sadly, tears blobbing up in her eyes when he flinched at her tone. “It’s okay, Kitty. There are more chances.”

He sunk into her embrace and they cried together for a little while. 

_ Eleven hours _ , Ladybug thought,  _ it’s two a.m. and there’s nowhere I’d rather be _ .

“I’m not ready,” Chat Noir said in a strong voice, like he’d been thinking about it for a while.

“Maybe we should gather evidence first, Chaton. Adults can be dangerous when its our word against theirs.” Ladybug rubbed his back, both trying to warm each other in the cold of the evening.

“How long will that take?”

“As long as it needs to.”

“Can we… can we do this again tomorrow?” his voice cracked.

“I would do this every single day for you,” she said. “Chat you are one of the most important people in my life and I’d die before I saw you left in the hands of someone so evil.”

Chat Noir’s breaths shuddered in and out, tears rising to the surface. They’d cried so much already, and dehydration was not a fun game to play with friends. Ladybug pulled him into her shoulder and barely bit back her own cries.  _ Just kids, _ she thought.  _ We’re just kids, why do people have to put him through this _ ?

“Ladybug I have to go back.”

“Five o’clock on the Eiffel Tower.”

“Ladybug I-”

“I love you too, Chaton. Goodnight.”


End file.
